Your top five German wine producers

Given all the threads on German wines lately, I thought it might be interesting to see everyone’s top holdings in German wines by producer. I know we have done this before but I think it has been at least a little while and I know my order has been scrambled some after buying 2019s.

  1. JJ Prum
  2. Reinhold Haart
  3. Zilliken
  4. von Schubert
  5. Selbach

My cellar has gotten somewhat top heavy over time as I only currently have 9 producers from whom I own 10 or more bottles - the other four are Schloss Lieser, Falkenstein, Schäfer-Fröhlich and Donnhoff.

4 Likes

JJ Prum
Will Schaefer
Julian Haart
Grunhaus
Keller

Under 6 Reinhold Haart (TBA) and Selbach, vive la différence!

29 producers over 10 bottles. (10 over 100)

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  1. JJ Prum
  2. Lauer

  1. Willi Schaefer

  1. Keller
  2. Falkenstein
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While a few producers are dwindling (e.g. J. J. Christoffel, as I drink up my horde of 2001s), the top 5 has remained remarkably stable.

  1. Donnhoff
  2. J. J. Prum
  3. Selbach-Oster
  4. Willi Schaefer (tied)
  5. von Schubert (tied)

As long as I keep buying from the top 5 nobody else will ever catch up, as they all have a massive head start. Schloss Lieser, Vollenweider and Zilliken form the core of the next tier. Leitz is actually in 6th place, but the availability has become so scattershot that it’s dropping fast as I drink the wines, and will fall to 9th or 10th soon.

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  1. JJ Prum
  2. Fritz Haag
  3. Willi Schaefer
  4. Richter
  5. Falkenstein

First 3 are heavily leveraged towards the 01 and 05 vintages (back when PC actually delivered futures). The last two are more from the last 5-8 years.

2 Likes

These are my top 5, as a percentage of all riesling in my collection.

  1. JJ Prum (18.8%)
  2. Martin Mullen (13.3%)
  3. Willi Schaefer (11.3%)
  4. Hofgut Falkenstein (8.9%)
  5. Von Schubert Maximin Grunhaus (8.2%)

My collection is pretty top heavy with these producers, and then under 2-3% for others. Max Ferd Richter may take over #5 once my 3 cases from the 2019 vintage arrive. Peter Lauer and Emrich-Schonleber are not far behind.

4 Likes

Where is Egon Müller?

(I can’t really play, as sadly I have very little German wine these days, my wife dislikes them. JJ Prum probably top by number of bottles, then Muller and Von Kesselstatt (Josephshöffer))

  1. Schloss Lieser
  2. Fritz Haag
  3. Donnhoff
  4. Willi Schaefer
  5. Zilliken
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Falkenstein
Selbach Oster
JJ Prum
von Winning
AJ Adam

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Egon Muller lives in the pantheon of the unaffordable.

1 Like
  1. Keller (more than twice #2)
  2. Emrich-Schonleber
  3. Schafer-Frolich
  4. Ratzenberger (bet no one else has that in Top 5!)
  5. Andreas Laible (I’d be surprised on that one as well)

Next tier includes Battenfeld-Spanier, JJ Prum, Julian Haart, Weiser-Kuntsler, Willi Schaefer, Wittman - not in order. Then there’s another 20 or so producers with more than 10 bottles. 51 producers in total.

1 Like

Extra points for straying off the beaten path!

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Selbach Oster
Schaefer
Prum
Christoffel
Merkelbach

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  1. JJ Prum - They keep edging up as I’m aging rather than drinking.
  2. Egon Muller - none purchased in the last 5 years but still aging rather than drinking
  3. Willi Schaefer - aging and drinking
    4 (tied). Selbach Oster & von Schubert - aging and drinking

Merkelbach was among my “most purchased” but also my “most consumed shortly after release”.

I remember when Muller Catoir would have been an easy #1 but now I only have one left.

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Indeed. But that’s not usually a disqualification in other threads. :slight_smile:

Number 9 for me

Looking at the other lists, pretty much everyone skews more sweet than we do, so it makes some sense.

1 Like

JJ Prum
Falkenstein
Zilliken
Martin Mullen
Muller Catoir

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I guessed four of your top five. Laible was the surprise.

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JJ Prum
Carl Loewen
Fritz Haag
Donnhoff


Prum and Donnhoff are the only two I really seek-out; given the wide array of excellent other options, I’m happy to play with whatever my local retailers have — I still feel like I’m in the exploration stage, even though I’ve been buying German Riesling for nearly (15?) years now. Prum dominates in my top spot with 38%; Loewen is up there on the strength of one vintage of one bottling; Prum and Donnhoff are probably the two that appear most frequently on my receipts.